HMV Calls in Administrators

HMV, the 92-year-old U.K. music chain, today went into administration, the latest high street retailer to fall victim to the consumer shift towards online shopping.

The demise of HMV comes a week after British camera retailer Jessops and Virgin France–France’s second-largest entertainment chain–both filed for bankruptcy, highlighting the extreme challenges facing traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers as they compete with online-only brands like Amazon.

The U.K. high street has had an especially difficult year, during which household brands including JJB Sports, Comet and Game Group have all entered administration.

HMV, which opened its first store in 1921, tried to delay the inevitable by selling off its its book store Waterstones for £53 million and its Hammersmith Apollo music venue for £32 million. But it said Tuesday that it was unable to continue trading without breaching banking agreements.